Many of us have been
deceived or made to believe that people like us are not meant to achieve
greatness in life. Now, quickly before I continue the rest of this article, I
want you to first all erase that thought or mindset from wherever it has been
rooted in you. That particular idea is one of the greatest lies from the pit of
the enemies of humanity.
I am extremely
convinced that no human being was created to be a waste to himself or his
generation. And I also believe that God will not waste His precious and divine
time to create an unprofitable human. Therefore, my conclusion is that we all
are meant to be successful in most if not in all area of our calling or
gifting. However, suffice it to say that in spite of this congenital capacity
to achieve greatness ingrained in every one of us, there are still certain
actions that we need to take in other to claim it. That is; we have our own
roles to play so as to meet that coveted target. Those actions we need to take
are;
1
Start
early: There is this routine or tradition that has been
rooted in every family and schools vis-รก-vis the way a child should be trained.
The current and most acceptable standard child training and growth pattern in
almost every society is the age long or antiquated “graduate-first
–before-any-other-thing-mentality”. In some quarters, the rule is that you must
graduate from the college before you start pursuing your dreams in life. And
that is one of the real reasons why some folks experience delay or even fail to
achieve success in life.
So,
in other to be successful in life it is very important to start as early as
possible. And this could be as early as the mind develops the ability to learn.
There is no point in waiting till one graduate from high school or the college.
Some time we need to break the so called rule. No wonder people in the know
have said that the set of people who get the most out of their lives are those
who dare to break or ignore some of the so called down-to-earth-success-rules.
One
of the main reasons why one needs to set the sail early is because the road to
success is lined with mistakes and tentative failures. The idea here is that if you start early and
stay focused you will still get to where you are going no matter the number of
times you failed to get it right. Again, it is important to start early
especially before marriage when you have all the time for yourself alone.
Edward
Bulwer-Lytton who saw it all once said that, “The man who succeeds above his
fellows is the one who early in life discerns his object and towards that
object habitually directs his power. Even genius itself is a fine observation
strengthened by fixity of purpose”
2.
Find
out your own psychology: What do you know about yourself?
In order to be successful in life, it is imperative that you find out who you
are. Find out your core values. Find out your area of competence. Find out your
likes and dislikes. Find out your limits but don’t allow them to limit you;
break them. You can carry out what is called SWOT analysis in human behavioral
psychology. Find out those things that work for you and consolidate on them. You can also read Asking the golden question for more information on finding your psychology
3.
Don’t
be experts in the wrong things (change): If you investigate, you will find out
that the greatest tragedy in life is not the lack of ability to do what we want
to do in life, but that we wastefully expend our scarce human abilities
engaging in stuffs that do not fit into our life dreams or goals. Some invest
the greater part of their energies into frivolities such as partying, gossiping
and flirting but later complain of weariness when it comes to working on their
goals. The fact is that no matter how fast you are running, if you are not running towards the right target all your efforts will be in vain. No wonder peter Drucker once said that, “there is nothing so useless as doing
efficiently that which should not be done at all”
So,
if you are one of those in that category and you want to be successful in life,
what you need to do is to change what takes priority in your life. All you need
to do is transfer the energy wasted in frivolous activities to that used in
pursuing your goals or dreams in life and you will see how your life will
change miraculously.
“Our lives improve only when we take chances---and the first and most difficult risk is to be honest with ourselves”
~~Walter Anderson.
4.
Cut
down the time spent in celebrating victory: Now, it is
important that we take out time to celebrate ourselves once in a while
especially after achieving our goal or actualizing our dreams. Celebration of
victories and accomplishment somehow swell up our ego and raises our
self-esteem which in turn energize us to even work harder or smarter. No doubt
it is recommended that you appreciate yourself for having done greatly, but it
becomes detrimental and counter-productive if we devote more time, money and
energy than is necessary to it.
5.
Be
mindful of the time: According to peter Drucker, a
management expert, “Time is the scarcest resources and unless it is managed, nothing else
can be managed”. Anyone who aspires to be successful in life must be
mindful of how he or she spends time. To be mindful of time is not about
counting every hour, but about making every hour count. Making the most of
every seconds of your life. Life is too short and the time available to us is
limited. Therefore, invest your time into your life goals or dreams. Spend less
time on activities that do not add value to your life and multiply the time you
devote to working toward the accomplishment of your dreams.
“Lost time is never found again” (Benjamin Franklin)
6.
Ignore
your cynics: In life there are always people who
would like to pull you down. They are everywhere. At home, at work, in the
church, in the mosque, at school, in the market and any other place where
people come together for one reason or another. This set of people will always
see why and how you cannot get it right. They will criticize every action you
take. They will tell you how incompetent you are. You will hear comments like; what
you are doing is not meant for people like you. Why are you wasting your time
on a project that is not worth it? Do you think you are intelligent enough to
accomplish that goal?
Now,
for everyone who aspires to be successful in one area of his life or the other,
the truth is that the cynics will always be there whether you like it or not.
Therefore, the best bet is to ignore them and work towards achieving your goal.
What I tell people is that the more the criticism, the more effort you should
put into your dreams. See; don’t allow them to stop you. While some of them are
confused, some are frustrated. And some are not as good as you are and wouldn’t
want you to be even better than they are. Yet again, there are some of them who
have accomplished their own dreams but wouldn't want you to be like them. The
solution; Pay them no mind. Just go ahead, work your calling and be successful
while they continue making effort to distract you.
7. Don’t
give up: As you take up the challenges of becoming
successful in life you must hit some obstacles as you move on. I used the word ‘must’ here because
impediments are non-negotiable when it comes to actualizing your dreams in
life. Sometimes the challenges would look so gigantic that you will be tempted
to throw in the towel. In this all important journey of becoming successful in
life, the hurdle may come in different shapes and sizes. It might come in the
form of poor financing, family challenges, image tarnishing or slandering
campaign from friends and loved ones, legal issues, marital challenges, limited
time, lack of information or knowledge and lots of other circumstances. Now,
whatever the difficulty or barrier that comes your way as you fight to take
what belong to you in life must not be seen as a reason to quit. To me, every challenge
or obstacle did not come to stay. It only came to pass. You have the ability to
dismantle all kinds of hindrances that may appear on your way. All you need to
do is be ready to pay the price. You have been given the intelligent, the
physical and mental capacity to be a success in life. The key is; “Success
comes to those who possess whatever-it-takes-attitude”. So, never say die until you get there. You can read How to change any situation for more information on this topic.
8.
Don’t
do it because others are doing it (don’t imitate foolishly):
This is what I call follow-follow-mentality. The zombie lifestyle. They just
feel that they can’t get it right on their own. They are always on the lookout
for what others are doing. They don’t have direction or target and as a result
will never arrive. They adopt other people’s opinion. They start when others
start and stop when others stop. And one trend I have continually observed in
the life of this set of people is that they hardly follow good examples. They
only have their nose and eyes on the bad examples. And that is the most
guaranteed root to failure. Successful
people create and run their own vision. They always know what they want. They
have their own targets and they follow it till they grab it. They are not
easily blown off course by pop ups. They always trust their instinct. So, if
you want to be successful in life, you must not imitate foolishly. Be the
original which you were meant to be. Even if people do not believe in what you
are doing, don’t allow that to distract you. One thing is sure, once they see
you succeed in it, they will come and celebrate with you.
9.
Tell
yourself the truth: A lot of folks out there are expert liars.
They have mastered the art of telling lies to the extent that they
unconsciously lie to their own selves. And like I have always said, the
greatest lie is not the lie you were told by someone else, but the lie you told
yourself. Earlier on in this article, I talked about carrying out SWOT analysis
of your own self. This particular analysis will give you an insight into who
you are. With that analysis you will be able to find out your strengths, your
weaknesses, your opportunities and your threats. Equipped with those
information about yourself, you will uncover both your area of strengths and
weaknesses. Now,
successful people concentrate on their area of strength. They know where their
core strength lies and they develop it. They tell themselves the truth about
what works for them and go for it rather than pretend and waste their time
trying to do what they cannot do.
10.
Do
what makes you happy not what makes others happy:
Don’t be a people pleaser. If you try to please everybody, the person who is
not going to be happy is you. People who lack self confidence have always
allowed themselves to be squeezed into other people’s mould. These sets of
people always wear long faces trying to make others happy. You may be producing
some kind of results and garnering some bucks but your happiness in life is
much more important than all that.When
it comes to choosing a career, so many people make the mistake of going for
what someone else want them to do rather than going for what resonates with
their own selves. You hear people say something like “I do this because this is
what my father wants me to do”. “I do this because that is what my mother wants
me to do”. “I am doing this because my good friend suggested that I should do
it”. This is in no way trying to downplay the
importance of seeking the services of a career coach. But you find out that
even a career coach would always put priority mark on those careers that a
client has passion for when giving career advice. The bottom-line here is that
if you want to be successful in life, you must choose a career path that gives
your heart resounding joy and happiness.
11.
Be
determined (don’t lower your ambition to please others):
To be successful in life, the number rule is Determination. (2). Determination.
(3). Determination. (4). Determination. Successful people are determined
people. They don’t take “no” for an answer.
12.
Develop
skills for your gifts or talent: James Kelly in his
Scottish proverbs, collected and arranged in 1720 wrote “If wishes were horses,
beggars would ride”. And I would say “if only talents and gift were all it
takes to be successful in life, then every Tom, Dick, and Harry would make it
in life”. I believe that in life, there is no scarcity of talents or gifts.
They are everywhere. After all God created each and everyone us with one or
more talents. But the question is; how many of us would have the courage to
develop skills necessary to power those talents? It was Aleister Crowley who
once said that “ In the absence of willpower the most complete collection of virtues and
talents is wholly worthless”The
secret is that discovering your talent(s) alone won’t lead you to anywhere near
being successful in life. People who achieve success are those who develop
skills for their talents. And you develop skills by hours and hours, day by
day, week by week, month by month, year by year practice. Once you are ready to
develop skills for your talents, then you are on your way to becoming
successful in life if you don’t give up. A
leadership expert once said, “We are more likely to persevere if we think
talent is only peripheral to our future achievement. It requires about 10,000
hours or 10 years of practice and sustained effort to get to the top in a sport
and same applies in the Arts and sciences: a long persistence of deliberate
effort is more important than talent”
13.
Believe
in your worthiness: Another way to say it is, “Believe in
yourself”. In life as you pursue your greatness, people and failure would tempt
to undermine your worth and capabilities. And if they hit you constantly, you
may be forced to doubt your own very self. But one of the greatest truths of
all ages that many a good number of people have not yet realized is that there
is an in exhaustible ability in all man which is always available to help him
accomplish his dreams in life. We all have great mental and physical abilities
endowed on us by virtue of the fact that we are human. All that you need in
other to use this inbuilt power is to activate it. It is ever ready to work for
you once you push it off inertia. This great power in every one of us can be
activated by believing in ourselves. You need to believe you can because the
truth is that you can. Yes you can. The ability is in you. Believe that you
have the ability to do anything you want and start working toward it now. I
have always told people that one of the very important steps to becoming
successful in life is to believe in your worthiness (Believe in yourself).
Again,
in life you will encounter people who would like to destroy your self image.
They would like to drum it into your head that you are ‘a nobody’. They will
try as much as they can to tell you that you can’t. They will go the extra mile
to tell you that you are a failure and will amount to nothing in life. I
experienced this mental rape first hand. But at a point I developed a mental
bulwark against such verbal and behavioral attack on my worth. The key is, if
you want to be successful in life, you must quit worrying about what others
think about you and follow your heart. I believe that what people think about
me is not my business. It is their headache. I like how Venus Williams said, “You
have to believe in yourself when no one else does. That is what makes you a
winner”.
14.
Your
must persist (success does not come easily): I think
persistence stands out among many of the traits possessed by successful people.
They know that no matter how long it takes, if you don’t give up; that is, if
you stay a little longer, you will get to your target. I have this strong
believe that Success is highly connected to a never-say die-spirit. It has a
lot to do with the ability to stick to a cause no matter how hopeless the
situation may seem. Most time I use the word ‘seem’ because 95% of the
challenges we encounter in life are not what we think they are. In several
occasions we assume the situation is much more than we can handle. We also tend
to presume or presuppose that the target or task is beyond our ability to
accomplish. And that is one of the major factors militating against our quest
for success in life. People who often succeed in life have this indomitable
spirit in them. They are indefatigable. And that’s why they succeed in most of
their endeavors. A lot of people get discouraged after the first failure
experience. Some give up at the second try. Some give up at the third try. But
those who understand success mechanism will stay on course as long as they are
convinced that they are chasing after the right cause. A typical example is
Thomas Edison who even though failed 99,999 times persisted till he was able to
invent the electric bulb at the 10,000th time. He was an epitome of
persistence.
Another
fellow in that movie is Henry Ford. I can also see J.K Rawlings of the Harry
Porter book series in that movie. And there are many other successful people
who persisted even after being rejected tens and hundreds of times. Here
is the secret; if you want to be successful in life you must be ready to
persevere. You must be ready to keep on going. You must be ready to stick with
it in spite of the difficulties. You must clothe yourself with endurance and
with that, you will surely get to where you want to be.
15.
Hunger
and thirst for information: If you study the life of real
successful folks, you will find out that they never joked when it comes to
finding the right information. Researchers have shown that the people who
succeed most in every human endeavor are those who possessed the right and most
current information in their areas of specialization. They ask the right
questions. They engage in deep researches.
The
key is; If you want to be successful in life, you must be an avid reader. Read
success stories, biographies and autobiographies of men and women who held
their own in life. Attend seminars, conferences, workshops and other meetings
of like-minded people. Join professional bodies. Subscribe to journals. The
bottom-line like I use to say is; equip and update yourself with the world best
practices as it relates to what you do.
You may also like to read:
Believe in yourself
The wealth in you quotes on failure-proof mentality
How to change and situation
How the foundation of success is the wealth in you.
The wealth in you quotes
Don't take "no" for an answer when it came to the issue of your success
Wealth and Education quotes
You may also like to read:
Believe in yourself
The wealth in you quotes on failure-proof mentality
How to change and situation
How the foundation of success is the wealth in you.
The wealth in you quotes
Don't take "no" for an answer when it came to the issue of your success
Wealth and Education quotes
